On Sunday, world-renowned trumpet player, bandleader, composer and music director Wynton Marsalis returned to Zellerbach Hall, performing for one night only. His band, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, is highly regarded as one of the best big bands in the world today.  JLCO is a 15-piece ensemble composed of some of today’s best instrumentalists. The band has appeared in collaboration performances with the world’s most preeminent symphony orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Boston, Chicago and London Symphony Orchestras, to name a few.

 JLCO is also active in promoting the arts and music education on an international level and has been featured in several education and performance programs in past years, including those in France, Italy, England, Germany and Japan. The band stayed in Berkeley until Monday, when they held a private concert in conjunction with the SchoolTime performing arts program, whose goal is to allow local K-12 students to expand on their arts education.

 Born in New Orleans in 1961, Wynton Marsalis began classical training on the trumpet at age 12 and shortly thereafter began performing in bands of a wide variety of genres. He attended The Julliard School, where he continued his music education, and then joined the widely acclaimed “hard bop-style” group of the 1950s Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Since 1982, Marsalis has recorded more than 30 albums, both of the jazz and classical genres. He has won nine Grammy Awards.  Among a plethora of other honors, Marsalis’ greatest feat is possibly becoming the first artist ever to win both classical and jazz Grammys in the same year, 1983. He did the same in 1984.  For this, he is regarded as one of the most versatile musicians in the world today.

 On Sunday, Marsalis and JLCO showcased their ability to stage a concert that incorporated all the elements of musicality, showmanship, live performance and even a bit of surprise. The band opened the night with arrangements of 1940s bebop pianist Thelonious Monk’s “4 in 1” and “Light Blue.” The band then featured its pianist, Dan Nimmer, on a piece called “Animal Dance.” The first half concluded with “42nd and Broadway” and “Swing House,” two works by Gerry Mulligan, the arranger for both the Duke Ellington and Stan Kenton Orchestras. The band took advantage of its variety of instrumentation and used flutes, clarinets and muted brass in addition to its primary instrumentation to add different colors and new blends of sound to each piece.  No two tunes sounded alike.

The second half began with a modern twist. After the intermission, the band opened with “Wigwam,” a Latin tune by fusion pianist Chick Corea. The band then showcased an original piece, “Insatiable Hunger,” written by lead alto saxophone player Sherman Irby. The members of this band were more than just players — they were composers as well. “Insatiable Hunger” is a funk ballad that was inspired by Dante’s “Inferno.”

Then, the concert took an unexpected turn. Marsalis took a brief moment before the next song and said, “One of the greatest things about playing jazz and getting to travel is having the opportunity to get to perform with amazing people all over the world.” He then invited Bay Area-based vocalist Kenny Washington on stage to be featured in the band’s arrangement of Joe Williams’ “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” — a piece that the band had never rehearsed with Washington and an arrangement that Washington had likewise never seen before. The band read the tune from top to bottom, complete with a vocal scat solo, and received a standing ovation for the almost flawless pursuit of this work.

 The concert concluded with a standing ovation followed by one final number — an improvised encore solo featuring Marsalis.  His playing was artistic.  He sat on a stool on the dimly lit stage next to the pianist and appeared nothing short of relaxed. At the end, he walked off stage, still soloing as he left, and took one final bow before the audience.

 When reflecting on the evening, one of the most interesting things that Marsalis mentioned was the importance of community. He talked about how one of his goals in performing is to encourage support for the arts everywhere he goes. “They’re going to keep on cutting it, so we’ve got to keep on supporting it.”

Marsalis concluded by sending message of inspiration to his audience: “The music we hear, the music of Mozart and Ellington … it’s a gift.”